Improvement in trunks



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOSEPH H. WHITFIELD, OF BUFFALO, NEW YORK.

IMPROVEMENT IN TRUNKS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 50,059, dated September 19, 1865; antedated September 15, 1865.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, J osEPII H. WHITFIELD, ofBuft'alo, Erie county, and State of New York, have invented new and useful Improvements in Trunks with a Traveling or Portable Bed; and I do hereby declare the following to be an exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and the letters of reference marked thereon, making a part of this specification.

The nature of my invention consists in the arrangementand combination ofadouble trunk with a bed or portable cot opening in front, the cot made of iron and wooden bars in sections, with stays and folding legs, and upper lid as a shelter for the sleepers head.

Figure 1 represents a side elevation, Fig. 2, an end view.

A represents the trunk, and under the lid or top B the bed-frame or cot C is placed, and the lid B opens on one side ot the trunk, (with a lock and key,) containing the cot, and on the opposite side ofthe trunk (with another lock and key) the top part opens on another set of hinges, and in the lower part of the trunk the clothing and traveling materials are packed, so that the upper lid may be opened to unfold the cot infront and not expose the clothing beneath; or the opposite side of the lid can be opened without disturbing or exposing the cot.

In the lower side ofthe upper lid or top, B, (when it is raised,) I place the pillow, and the lid B becomes a shelter to the head of the sleeper, shielding the head from cold or damp air, and by this use of the lid the cot is shorter than the usual length, making the trunk and cot smaller and lighter than otherwise required to be--a decided comfort to the sleeper, and as a portable trunk an advantage to the traveler. f

The frame ofthe cot U is made of light iron bars D in sections and jointed, and has side strips orbars, E, of wood screwed onto each section, and to which bars of wood the canvas Gr of the cot is permanently fastened by tacks or otherwise. The cot O folds together at the joints H, so as to be movable and portable and to be easily attached to any traveling-trunk. The cot does not open from the ends of the trunk, but at the iront, so that the trunk is narrower and not so cumbersome as the ordinary traveling-trunks with cots opening at the ends. The stays I, with pins J, stiften the joints H. Gross-bars K are extended across the cot to brace it. They are intended to be madeI of thin, tlat iron bars. The legs L are also to be made of bar-iron, (like the sides D,) curved and jointed or hinged to the sides D, having hooked stayrods MM between and at the sides to brace and steady the legs.

N represents a pillow.

I am aware that traveling-trunks have been used with cots opening at the one end; but these I do not claim. Therefore,

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

A double trunk, opening front and'back, with the cot opening infront, the cot having double bars D and E of wood and iron, stays I at their joints, and folding legs L, with hooked stays M and the lid B as a rest or place for the pillow and shelter vfor the head, when arranged and combined as herein described,` and for the purposes set forth.

J. H. WHITFIELD.

Witnesses:

J. FRANKLIN REIGART, JOHN S. HoLLINGsI-IEAD. 

